History in Translation
by Essyllus
Summary: Conversations told between two Sannin and the students, and how the past exists to teach. One shot.


Author's Notes: Written for YamiPaladinofChaos in the community, narutoflashfic.

The style is experimental in that it alternates between scenes of prose and dialogue. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

---

Once she learns that Naruto will be okay, that he's still conscious and talking and _breathing thank goodness- _Sakura goes to the Hokage Tower and requests that she be put under Tsunade's apprenticeship.

From the first time she meets her, she knows that Tsunade is a medical ninja, a legendary ninja (a character out of a storybook only Naruto can read- ninja). Tsunade is beautiful beyond the simple healing in her fingers and the destruction in their tips; it is the glint of certainty and determination in her eyes that Sakura seeks. She wants to know how to do that, how to apply the pressure there and there to make things better, to make things the way they used to be, the way they're supposed to be.

She wants it badly.

Naruto's promise still lingers in the back of her mind, and for him, there is a second reason.

---

"Hey, hey, Ero-Sennin. This Grass Country… is it near the Sound Country?"

"You really are stupid. Didn't you learn geography at the Academy?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Don't tell me you're thinking about Sasuke. I told you to forget about him!"

"I can't do that! There's no way I'm giving up on Sasuke!"

"Don't be stupid, fool! I'm not taking you with me to go die already!"

"I'm not gonna die!"

---

There's a trick to reviving something that's already dead.

Sakura's not through yet, not through with pressing and pulsing and _controlling_ the stupid thing. Sweat clings to her forehead and while her fingers ache from the chakra she's exerting, there is no way-

Suddenly, the inanimate heart beats to life and she lets her breath flutter for half a second.

Tsunade smirks and orders her out of the room. Sakura shakily nods and leaves. There's nothing to it, the older woman muses, except that the energy required exceeds the amount that one would think. She lightly taps the fish, and it chokes, spasms, and deflates. There is physical energy and spiritual energy, but the core to medical ninjutsu falls under neither.

---

"When are you going to teach me a new jutsu?"

"Whenever I want. Now be quiet."

"What! How am I gonna surpass Sasuke if you're wasting your time going into bars and meeting with women? I thought you were my sensei!"

"I _am_ your sensei! Now I'm ordering you to shut up and drink."

---

It takes six months for Tsunade to trust Sakura enough to let her get a glimpse of the private life of the Hokage. It takes two days for Sakura to realize that the private life is far less glamorous.

She's not sure where she stands as she quietly picks up the empty sake bottles out of her sensei's drunken fingers. Reprimanding the Hokage is clearly out of the question (she leaves that perilous job up to Shizune) but uselessly waiting out the hangover…

There are mixed feelings when the villagers say that she will be the next Tsunade. Sakura's not sure how to take their curious stares, having never been the center of attention. They're different from the ones Naruto and Sasuke receive (used to receive) but that doesn't mean that they're not as uncomfortable. She stares right back and betrays no malice.

She just hopes that she's as sure as she looks.

Watching the snoring woman, she decides to be useful and moves toward the desk cluttered with mission reports, scrolls, and year old gambling memos. Underneath those, there's a framed photograph of Tsunade when from when she was younger, posing with her teammates and sensei.

Old butterflies in her stomach stir up again as Sakura quickly slides the picture underneath the memos. Tsunade wakes up when she feels a foreign chakra next to her; she smiles sleepily and, for a moment, looks like her youthful self in the picture frame.

---

"I don't want to hear anymore! You've told me this story a thousand times, about how you saved this really pretty princess, and blah, blah, blah!"

"Alright I'll tell you a different story."

"Yeah, right. About what?"

"Legendary ninja! There was this handsome boy with dashing white hair-"

"Ero-Sennin!"

"I'm not done yet!"

"No! I'm going back to the hotel room!"

"Naruto! This is a very important story!"

"What's so important about it if you're-"

"It's about three genin, just like you! One loud mouthed wannabe just like you, one easily angered healer just like-"

"-Sakura! And—"

"…Yeah. One cold hearted bastard just like Sasuke."

---

On the odd day that Sakura is free from the hospital, she comes to the village borders. It is quiet and peaceful, surrounded by towering trees that muffle all sounds of the busy village. On one side, there is a crudely etched boulder from ancient generations before.

The practical side, of course, knows that there are only so many gravestones for each casualty. It knows that each day is a cycle of training, promotion, and survival. Some survive better than others. Some play hard and some die hard.

Tsunade's been playing for a long time, Sakura muses. She's not youthful at all (Naruto would attest to that) but he must have changed something in the old woman to make her come back. She's nothing like Neji or Gaara, and surely there's nothing about a bratty demon vessel that she could relate to (he's not the gambling type and, truthfully, he doesn't have the head for it anyway.)

Sakura's eyes crinkle slightly and she sighs, letting the sun fill her and sweep her away.

---

"How would you know, boy? You think he's just gonna let you carry him home once you've broken his bones, even if you do?"

"I know because I'm gonna do it! I don't care what you say."

"Stupid, that's what all fools say right before they die."

""I'm not gonna-"

"You think you're the only one who's thought that? Believe me when I say that you're not the only team that's dissolved."

"Shut up! Sakura-chan still loves Sasuke and I still love Sakura-chan and that's the way it's always gonna be. What do you know?"

"You think Sakura loves you?"

"You should talk, _Ero-Sennin_. Tsunade-baachan doesn't even like you anymore."

---

Despite her age and title as a Sannin- as the Hokage! –it is Sakura whose breath sighs wearily in her uncertain adolescence. It is Sakura who feels the glass pieces of history grind together, who bites the days when she has to work double shifts at the hospital, and yet, still goes home to write letters to Naruto that she will never send; she writes them in her mind and in her heart and lets the sharp pieces of grief clutch close.

She'll die young if she keeps this up, Tsunade thinks wryly, but she will surpass me in all other ways.


End file.
